Humans routinely make inductive generalizations about unobserved features of objects. Previous accounts of inductive reasoning often focus on inferences about a single object or feature: accounts of causal reasoning often focus on a single object with one or more unobserved features, and accounts of property induction often focus on a single…

Knowledge restructuring refers to changes in the strategy with which people solve a given problem. Two types of knowledge restructuring are supported by existing category learning models. The first is a relearning process, which involves incremental updating of knowledge as learning progresses. The second is a recoordination process, which…

Evolutionary psychologists often propose that humans carry around "stone-age" brains, along with a toolkit of cognitive adaptations designed originally to solve hunter-gatherer problems. This perspective predicts that optimal cognitive performance might sometimes be induced by ancestrally-based problems, those present in ancestral environments,…

In two experiments, we studied how people's strategy choices emerge through an initial and then a more considered evaluation of available strategies. The experiments employed a computer-based paradigm where participants solved multiplication problems using mental and calculator solutions. In addition to recording responses and solution times, we…

Visualizing spatial material is a cornerstone of human problem solving, but human visualization capacity is sharply limited. To investigate the sources of this limit, we developed a new task to measure visualization accuracy for verbally-described spatial paths (similar to street directions), and implemented a computational process model to…

This study examines strategic and semantic aspects of the answers given by preschool children to class inclusion problems. Results show that children understand the semantics of inclusion but are unable to coordinate their semantic knowledge with enumeration strategy. (Author/DEP)

A computer simulation model was fitted to human laboratory data for the Missionaries and Cannibals task to explain the effects upon problem performance of giving a hint and the effect of solving problems a second time after a successful solution has been achieved. (Author/DEP)

A model is developed and evaluated for use in the water jug task in in which subjects are required to find a sequence of moves which produce a specified amount of water in each jug. Results indicate that the model presented correctly predicts the difficulties of different problems and describes the behavior of subjects in the process of problem…

The representation of analogy in memory and processes involved in the use of analogies were explored. Results indicated that solutions to a problem can be developed by using an analogous problem from a very different domain. (Author/RD)

A quantitative model of belief revision and causal thinking using circumstantial evidence was assessed, using 36 undergraduate students in three experiments. The model assumes beliefs are revised based on a cascaded reasoning process that combines beliefs about the clue/possible cause relationship and the clue's forward and backward implications.…

Adults' geometric analogy solution was investigated as a function of systematic variations in the information structure of items. Latency data from verification of true and false items were recorded. A model incorporating assumptions about the form of item representation, working memory factors, and processing components and strategies was…

The water jug task model was extended to four variations of the Missionaries--Cannibals river-crossing problem. Different cover stories resulted in large differences in number of illegal moves, but no difference in number of legal moves to solution. The three-stage process model explains both legal and illegal moves. (Author/GDC)

Two simple quantitative models were derived from a series of experiments which explored the role of information storage in working memory when performing mental arithmetic. The decay model is a tractable analysis of a complex task which assumes a decay process in working storage. Similar analyses are recommended for problem solving activities…

Seven experiments with a total of 423 three-five year olds assessed preschool children's ability to learn and transfer across problems that share a common underlying structure but differ in surface manifestations. Results are discussed in terms of explanation- or analysis-based models of both machine and human learning. (TJH)

Piaget's characterization of formal operational thought and human judgment psychologists' model of bounded rationality are two conflicting models dealing with the nature and limits of mature thought. However, a look at the respective databases demonstrates their complementarity and their contribution to understanding mature cognition. (Author/RD)